As an American, I love seeing Israel and the US kicking the shit out of Iran and exterminating its leaders. I cannot even imagine how jubilant Israelis must feel over Iran getting its long overdue comeuppance. My concern is whether Israel and America will finish the damn job. We’ve seen how Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and even the Houthi’s have reconstituted themselves when the fighting stops. Israel and America do not win unless their enemies are defeated.
Israelis fear that the Americans will stop before the job is done. According to many Persian twitter accounts, they share that fear in Iran too. If, after stomaching the brutal bombing campaign because of the hope of a better world, they come out on the other side to see the same IRGC monsters ruling them, it'll be a sad day for the region.
——“Every effort should be made to ease the suffering of the civilian population.” —— NO! Do not ease suffering, emphasize IRGC goals.
The Iranians are being told that US generosity is proof of US fear of ALLAH. This is how the West will lose. To win, we must destroy the civilian infrastructure of IRAN.
Infrastructure can be rebuilt, but life, individual lives are irreplaceable.
The west can warn the public and the leaders, but US MUST bomb civilian targets after a warning, because ONLY a humiliated leadership and a desperate, or utterly demoralized population will cease supporting this insane Islamist campaign.
The Islamists worship death. They prefer dead bodies to live citizens.
Paper Tehran and other big cities with million of pieces of paper in Arabic and English— America is sending ALERT****ALERT****Leave your city. Your government wants you dead. Your government is not protecting you.
Save yourselves. Save your children. Save your beautiful country. You could be part of this beautiful world, or you could lose your life for bad reasons. The US makes friends. Only Islamists crazy want to make enemies and death .
All very sane, well informed, and far sighted, exactly why the mad king isn't going to do it. The US could have had that naval blockade in place and prevented mines from being deployed, but instead the focus was on bombing military sites, launchers, and leadership. Meanwhile the decentralized Iran military was free to go about it's pre-planned business. Iran is sending out filled oil tankers, still selling oil. The mad king doesn't care. He's sending in marines to secure whatever uranium can be confiscated in a short period, then that will be that. What's actually happening is a grass cutting operation, though I don't trust this bunch to have the plans in place for the next cutting in ten years.
Not (enough) mentioned here is the basic problem of the "mad king":
He pretends being fighting for `freedom´ but t he flirts with dictators and not just rarely behaves like one himself. He coddles Putin and sends him obviously clueless and unserious "negotiators"...
He earnestly tells the world Zelensky should be "the obstacle before peace" - considering such statements, he would logically have to, or could, make the same claims about Israel or Taiwan. The incurable problem of this mad courtier is his lack of credibility, which is driving away almost all potential supporters.
While those who feign (more) "credibility" — notoriously glorious gabby hollow "democratic" figures like "Obama," "Newsom," and so on — , are cowards and/or liars with even less credibility, about the level of Hollywood Actors.
The "free Western World" is implausibly dubious, too, and so should just admit "We ain´t got nothing and no one better", and "that´s where all our `Free Speech´and `Free Elections´got us to" - so "They" - the "(silent) majority" or whatever Shit - should abandon their preference for cheap, useless, dangerous windbags and opt for a dubious would-be king, since no alternative is apparent—except to go down with the drivel of useless windbags or "new" (semi-)fascists from France, Poland, UK, Hungary or "Islam-friendly" Marxist farts from Spain, Ireland, Belgium etc. and so on and on it goes.
Because apartheid has worked so well with Palestine…
“Still, barring an irrepressible popular revolt or a coup within the Iranian regime, neither of which currently seems probable, there is only one way that this war can successfully end. Decisively defeating Iran requires an initial application of massive military power followed by a long-term strategy of total containment.”
As the wise Jew Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is repeating an action and expecting different results.”
What is your problem? The article has literally nothing to do with "Palestine", and nothing to do with apartheid, either. And if you're going to quote Einstein, why mention that he's Jewish? Again, nothing to do with it. You belie yourself.
Michael's words: "a long-term strategy of total containment." If that is not a definition of apartheid, I don't know what is.
I mention that Einstein is Jewish because the current war in Iran is based on the need for the security of Israel, the Jewish state. You missed the irony of my statement.
Again you belie yourself, as Pgrgr stated: You are blaming the Jews for American involvement in this war. That is just not supported by the evidence, but rather a recycling of the tired old trope about Jews pulling the strings.
No, I am specifically blaming Israel for its involvement in this war. This has been on Bibi's wish list for decades.
But did Israel's actions against Iran trigger a U.S. decision to join in a preemptive strike? I will let Marco Rubio answer that:
"Planned Israeli action against Iran that would have seen retaliation against American forces prompted the United States to launch its weekend strikes against Tehran, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday.
"We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties," Rubio told reporters."
"Interestingly, there is evidence that while Netanyahu would love for Iran’s regime to fall, he would be content with shattering Iran’s offensive capabilities and defense industry. This suggests a lingering belief that mowing the grass, realistically, might be the best one can do. Perhaps, if there is no clear way to bring a “forever war” to an end, doing what one can to diminish one’s enemy’s strength makes all the sense in the world, however unsatisfying it might be? Or, given that Netanyahu ultimately was responsible for the pre-October 7 strategy of managing Hamas and Hezbollah, might he be falling back on a strategy now proven to have failed?"
"Doubts about America’s staying power may well influence the future of Ukraine and Taiwan."
Well, I hasten to add that even if the US focus on Iran longterm. We have Finland (900,000 troops) and Sweden (shallow sub technoloy) in NATO now watching St Petersberg.
And Poland is nearing the finish line of her East Shield (with a growing nationalist economy)
Western Europe CAN
hold off the regional power that is Russia. Germany's arm industry is waking up and Ukraine is even ahead with drone tech being on the front.
I think the longterm goal against Iran's regime is a good one. A Cold War of attrition, yes. 👍🐳 Go all the way🇮🇱🇺🇲💪
I’m not MAGA, but if the pro-democracy secular party is to prevail over the mullahs of Iran it’s going to require a bitter struggle, akin to the Thirty Years’ War, which was a necessary struggle to setup a new and better era from papal tyranny and depredation. The ayatollah’s massacre of protesters is reminiscent of the Sack of Magdeburg. The people of Magdeburg had embraced the liberty of the Protestant Reformation, and their city was then one of the largest in modern-day Germany, having well over 35,000 inhabitants in 1630. In 1631, the Imperial Army and the forces of the Catholic League had their revenge against such daring declarations of rights and liberties, breaching the walls of the city, and unleashing an orgy of robbery, plunder, murder and rape. Two-thirds of the city populace were killed and further people died in the ensuing epidemics and multiple fires, rendering the settlement uninhabitable. Any survivors fled the sacked and ruined city and the population fell from 35,000 to 450. Shocked at a level of brutality that was extraordinary even for its time, contemporary observers named the worst massacre of the Thirty Years’ War the “Magdeburg Wedding”.
"Economist Paul Krugman recently said that the higher oil prices “could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back” of the U.S. economy and will only get worse if the war continues."
Krugman long ago gave up economics for political punditry. He is simply wrong. The US produces more oil and gas than it uses. It is the world's largest producer. Not only that, but low prices in recent years had caused US drillers to reduce the number of drilling rigs in operation from 2,000 to 600. Higher prices will cause the surplus produced by the oil & gas sector to increase and create lots of new economic activity.
There will be distributional and regional impacts. (Good for Texas, bad for New England.) But, for the whole US economy the impact is positive.
I take your assessment Oren, but I think it's wishful thinking. We're not dealing with sane people. They may lose the battle but if the regime stays in power they win the war.
If Trump decides to drop a nuclear bomb on Iran - and he's mad enough to do this - from where would he launch the plane carrying the device? A US aircraft carrier, or Diego Garcia, or even RAF Lakenheath? Rach are possibilities. The world needs to step back now, before the situation escalates further.
As an American, I love seeing Israel and the US kicking the shit out of Iran and exterminating its leaders. I cannot even imagine how jubilant Israelis must feel over Iran getting its long overdue comeuppance. My concern is whether Israel and America will finish the damn job. We’ve seen how Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and even the Houthi’s have reconstituted themselves when the fighting stops. Israel and America do not win unless their enemies are defeated.
Israelis fear that the Americans will stop before the job is done. According to many Persian twitter accounts, they share that fear in Iran too. If, after stomaching the brutal bombing campaign because of the hope of a better world, they come out on the other side to see the same IRGC monsters ruling them, it'll be a sad day for the region.
#PersianSpring! (with a little weapons help from Israel behind the scenes.)
As long as Iran gets food it will have more shit!
——“Every effort should be made to ease the suffering of the civilian population.” —— NO! Do not ease suffering, emphasize IRGC goals.
The Iranians are being told that US generosity is proof of US fear of ALLAH. This is how the West will lose. To win, we must destroy the civilian infrastructure of IRAN.
Infrastructure can be rebuilt, but life, individual lives are irreplaceable.
The west can warn the public and the leaders, but US MUST bomb civilian targets after a warning, because ONLY a humiliated leadership and a desperate, or utterly demoralized population will cease supporting this insane Islamist campaign.
The Islamists worship death. They prefer dead bodies to live citizens.
Paper Tehran and other big cities with million of pieces of paper in Arabic and English— America is sending ALERT****ALERT****Leave your city. Your government wants you dead. Your government is not protecting you.
Save yourselves. Save your children. Save your beautiful country. You could be part of this beautiful world, or you could lose your life for bad reasons. The US makes friends. Only Islamists crazy want to make enemies and death .
—You get the idea, I’m sure.—
All very sane, well informed, and far sighted, exactly why the mad king isn't going to do it. The US could have had that naval blockade in place and prevented mines from being deployed, but instead the focus was on bombing military sites, launchers, and leadership. Meanwhile the decentralized Iran military was free to go about it's pre-planned business. Iran is sending out filled oil tankers, still selling oil. The mad king doesn't care. He's sending in marines to secure whatever uranium can be confiscated in a short period, then that will be that. What's actually happening is a grass cutting operation, though I don't trust this bunch to have the plans in place for the next cutting in ten years.
Not (enough) mentioned here is the basic problem of the "mad king":
He pretends being fighting for `freedom´ but t he flirts with dictators and not just rarely behaves like one himself. He coddles Putin and sends him obviously clueless and unserious "negotiators"...
He earnestly tells the world Zelensky should be "the obstacle before peace" - considering such statements, he would logically have to, or could, make the same claims about Israel or Taiwan. The incurable problem of this mad courtier is his lack of credibility, which is driving away almost all potential supporters.
While those who feign (more) "credibility" — notoriously glorious gabby hollow "democratic" figures like "Obama," "Newsom," and so on — , are cowards and/or liars with even less credibility, about the level of Hollywood Actors.
The "free Western World" is implausibly dubious, too, and so should just admit "We ain´t got nothing and no one better", and "that´s where all our `Free Speech´and `Free Elections´got us to" - so "They" - the "(silent) majority" or whatever Shit - should abandon their preference for cheap, useless, dangerous windbags and opt for a dubious would-be king, since no alternative is apparent—except to go down with the drivel of useless windbags or "new" (semi-)fascists from France, Poland, UK, Hungary or "Islam-friendly" Marxist farts from Spain, Ireland, Belgium etc. and so on and on it goes.
All well and good, but holding up the dissolution of the USSR as a example isn't massively promising. Look how that ended up for Russia
Because apartheid has worked so well with Palestine…
“Still, barring an irrepressible popular revolt or a coup within the Iranian regime, neither of which currently seems probable, there is only one way that this war can successfully end. Decisively defeating Iran requires an initial application of massive military power followed by a long-term strategy of total containment.”
As the wise Jew Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is repeating an action and expecting different results.”
What is your problem? The article has literally nothing to do with "Palestine", and nothing to do with apartheid, either. And if you're going to quote Einstein, why mention that he's Jewish? Again, nothing to do with it. You belie yourself.
Michael's words: "a long-term strategy of total containment." If that is not a definition of apartheid, I don't know what is.
I mention that Einstein is Jewish because the current war in Iran is based on the need for the security of Israel, the Jewish state. You missed the irony of my statement.
Again you belie yourself, as Pgrgr stated: You are blaming the Jews for American involvement in this war. That is just not supported by the evidence, but rather a recycling of the tired old trope about Jews pulling the strings.
No, I am specifically blaming Israel for its involvement in this war. This has been on Bibi's wish list for decades.
But did Israel's actions against Iran trigger a U.S. decision to join in a preemptive strike? I will let Marco Rubio answer that:
"Planned Israeli action against Iran that would have seen retaliation against American forces prompted the United States to launch its weekend strikes against Tehran, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday.
"We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties," Rubio told reporters."
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-not-currently-postured-ground-forces-iran-rubio-says-2026-03-02/#:~:text=Rubio%20says%20planned%20Israeli%20action%20against%20Iran%20prompted%20US%20strikes%20%7C%20Reuters
"Interestingly, there is evidence that while Netanyahu would love for Iran’s regime to fall, he would be content with shattering Iran’s offensive capabilities and defense industry. This suggests a lingering belief that mowing the grass, realistically, might be the best one can do. Perhaps, if there is no clear way to bring a “forever war” to an end, doing what one can to diminish one’s enemy’s strength makes all the sense in the world, however unsatisfying it might be? Or, given that Netanyahu ultimately was responsible for the pre-October 7 strategy of managing Hamas and Hezbollah, might he be falling back on a strategy now proven to have failed?"
https://shurkin.substack.com/p/the-iran-war-are-we-winning-how-would
Thank you Michael!
Yeesh. Does anyone really see Trump doing any of this?
Excellent article.
"Doubts about America’s staying power may well influence the future of Ukraine and Taiwan."
Well, I hasten to add that even if the US focus on Iran longterm. We have Finland (900,000 troops) and Sweden (shallow sub technoloy) in NATO now watching St Petersberg.
And Poland is nearing the finish line of her East Shield (with a growing nationalist economy)
Western Europe CAN
hold off the regional power that is Russia. Germany's arm industry is waking up and Ukraine is even ahead with drone tech being on the front.
I think the longterm goal against Iran's regime is a good one. A Cold War of attrition, yes. 👍🐳 Go all the way🇮🇱🇺🇲💪
I’m not MAGA, but if the pro-democracy secular party is to prevail over the mullahs of Iran it’s going to require a bitter struggle, akin to the Thirty Years’ War, which was a necessary struggle to setup a new and better era from papal tyranny and depredation. The ayatollah’s massacre of protesters is reminiscent of the Sack of Magdeburg. The people of Magdeburg had embraced the liberty of the Protestant Reformation, and their city was then one of the largest in modern-day Germany, having well over 35,000 inhabitants in 1630. In 1631, the Imperial Army and the forces of the Catholic League had their revenge against such daring declarations of rights and liberties, breaching the walls of the city, and unleashing an orgy of robbery, plunder, murder and rape. Two-thirds of the city populace were killed and further people died in the ensuing epidemics and multiple fires, rendering the settlement uninhabitable. Any survivors fled the sacked and ruined city and the population fell from 35,000 to 450. Shocked at a level of brutality that was extraordinary even for its time, contemporary observers named the worst massacre of the Thirty Years’ War the “Magdeburg Wedding”.
"Economist Paul Krugman recently said that the higher oil prices “could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back” of the U.S. economy and will only get worse if the war continues."
Krugman long ago gave up economics for political punditry. He is simply wrong. The US produces more oil and gas than it uses. It is the world's largest producer. Not only that, but low prices in recent years had caused US drillers to reduce the number of drilling rigs in operation from 2,000 to 600. Higher prices will cause the surplus produced by the oil & gas sector to increase and create lots of new economic activity.
There will be distributional and regional impacts. (Good for Texas, bad for New England.) But, for the whole US economy the impact is positive.
Where is the opposition? Where are the rebels with the guns? Dancing in the streets will not win this war
I take your assessment Oren, but I think it's wishful thinking. We're not dealing with sane people. They may lose the battle but if the regime stays in power they win the war.
If Trump decides to drop a nuclear bomb on Iran - and he's mad enough to do this - from where would he launch the plane carrying the device? A US aircraft carrier, or Diego Garcia, or even RAF Lakenheath? Rach are possibilities. The world needs to step back now, before the situation escalates further.
What has your comment got to do with this article?
Taco Trump will never finish this war. The bottom line is Kharg island needed to be bombed to hell. That is what would put Iran out of business.
Isn't it time to retire that silly nickname now that he's assembled and deployed the largest military force in the history of the world?
Surely taking on a war of choice (as one should in order to avoid fighting a war of necessity in the future) mocks the very idea of "chickening out"?